Assange Probe Hits Snag

U.S. investigators have been unable to uncover evidence that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange induced an Army private to leak government documents to his website, according to officials familiar with the matter.

New findings suggest Pfc. Bradley Manning, the intelligence analyst accused of handing over the data to the WikiLeaks website, initiated the theft himself, officials said. That contrasts with the initial portrait provided by Defense Department officials of a young man taken advantage of by Mr. Assange.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange says his life has been blighted by groundless rape allegations as he fights extradition to Sweden to face trial. Video courtesy of Reuters.

Further denting the push by some government officials to prosecute Mr. Assange, the probes have found little to link the two men, though others affiliated with WikiLeaks have been tied to Pfc. Manning, officials said.

For the U.S. to bring its preferred case against Mr. Assange of inducing the leak, it would have to show that the WikiLeaks founder specifically encouraged Mr. Manning to hand over the documents, which included thousands of State Department cables, as well as low-level intelligence reports on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Federal Bureau of Investigation agents and Justice Department lawyers continue to gather evidence for a possible conspiracy charge against Mr. Assange, but that's a harder case to make, government officials said. Such a charge would be based on contacts, which are more evident, between Pfc. Manning and lower-level WikiLeaks activists, and on Mr. Assange's leadership of the group, these officials said.

Attorneys for Mr. Assange and Pfc. Manning, who is being held in a military brig in Virginia, didn't return calls seeking comment Tuesday. Mr. Assange has denied he had any contact with Pfc. Manning, whose lawyers have never commented on the accusations against him.

ENLARGE

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, second from right, arrived Tuesday at a London court. He is fighting extradition to Sweden.
Associated Press

Failing to prosecute Mr. Assange, who has been portrayed as the chief instigator of the leaks, would be a setback to U.S. officials, including Attorney General Eric Holder, who have been vocal in asserting that the publication of the documents was a crime that should be prosecuted. The State Department cables, in particular, embarrassed U.S. diplomats and could expose their contacts to reprisals.

Mr. Assange is currently facing extradition proceedings in the U.K. on a request from Sweden, which is investigating sexual-assault allegations against him. In a second day of testimony Tuesday, lawyers sparred over who was more uncooperative—Mr. Assange or the Swedish prosecutor pursuing him.

Lawyers for Mr. Assange argued he shouldn't be extradited because he tried multiple times to meet with Swedish prosecutors after they opened the investigation on Sept. 1, and before Mr. Assange left Sweden on Sept. 27.

A lawyer representing Swedish prosecutor Marianne Ny said it was Ms. Ny who tried repeatedly, and unsuccessfully, to schedule an interrogation with Mr. Assange, who at one point went missing for about a week, unreachable even by his own lawyers.

Leonard Weinglass, a U.S. civil-rights lawyer who is working on Mr. Assange's defense, said his attorneys believed the U.S. government would attempt to have Mr. Assange extradited to the U.S.

In Washington, military officials have been examining how the data was stolen and how the theft could have been prevented. Army investigators now believe Pfc. Manning decided to steal the documents and give them to WikiLeaks on his own, out of his own malice toward the military or the government, according to a senior U.S. official.

The results of the Army inquiry were briefed for Army Secretary John McHugh last week, officials said. The findings of that probe contrast with the initial portrayal by some government officials of Pfc. Manning as a confused young person who was taken advantage of by Mr. Assange.

Pfc. Manning worked in intelligence operations in Baghdad and was assigned the task of examining intelligence relevant to Iraq. Defense officials said Pfc. Manning used his security clearance instead to tap into classified government documents around the world.

ENLARGE

Pfc. Bradley Manning is accused of leaking U.S. documents to WikiLeaks.
European Pressphoto Agency

The military has charged Pfc. Manning in connection with two leaks—a State Department cable on the Icelandic banking crisis and a video showing a U.S. military helicopter firing on a group of people in Baghdad. He hasn't been charged in connection with the leaks of thousands of State Department and intelligence documents. Defense officials say they believe he was responsible for them.

After joining the Army, Pfc. Manning had a series of disciplinary problems, including fighting with other soldiers. Those conflicts fueled Pfc. Manning's anger toward the military, said the senior official, but investigators believe his antipathy to the government began earlier.

Early in the probe, Justice Department officials concluded they wouldn't treat WikiLeaks as a journalistic enterprise, which makes it easier for federal investigators to seek subpoenas of records related to WikiLeaks leaders and associates.

Federal authorities have used a grand jury in Alexandria, Va., to gather evidence, including gaining a judge's December order to Twitter Inc. for records related to Mr. Assange and Pfc. Manning, and several WikiLeaks volunteers.

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